Info Dump
The feeling Urokodaki gave off should have scared me since the very next day, the second I completed my run down the mountain, Urokodaki handed me a sword and told me to swing it two hundred and fifty times.
At the fiftieth swing, my arms already felt like they were about to fall off and I was only able to make it to one hundred swings before my arms completely gave up and the sword had fallen from my hands.
However, Urokodaki knew that I'd be unable to do every swing, so I was let off punishment for the time being. Urokodaki did state though that I had to swing my sword more times tomorrow or there would be a punishment.
Well, tomorrow came today, and I ran down the mountain and then swung my sword one hundred and ten times. A solid improvement of ten swings.
Seeing Urokodaki nod his head at the effort I was putting in, I got slightly giddy from it.
This process of sword swinging, and the consistent running continued for the next fifteen days in which I was finally able to hit the bar of two hundred and fifty swings. My success was however short lived as Urokodaki instantly gave me the task of swinging my sword five hundred times.
Along with the near insurmountable task for swinging my practice sword, Urokodaki slowly started adding slightly lethal weapons into the booby traps on the mountain run. I know this because when I almost fell into a pit fall, a boulder came close to killing me.
This process of slowly improving my reflexes and strength went on for the next three weeks in which I was both able to dodge all of the slightly lethal traps and I got to five hundred swings.
I could tell that Urokodaki wanted to make the traps more lethal, but he stopped himself from doing so since I was only a child and the chances of me not having enough time to dodge increased exponentially.
On my path to completing the task of one thousand swings, Urokodaki finally decided that I was ready to receive an explanation on the current Japan and its dangers. So, when I woke up one day and walked into the main room, I could see Urokodaki sitting in a seiza position while drinking tea.
Taking a seat from across him, Urokodaki fills another cup and hands it to me. Slowly sipping the scorching hot tea, Urokodaki begins.
"Currently, in our world, exists demons. These demons are certain monstrosities that feed off humans and kill for the sake of pleasure. As of now, this statement has remained true, and no demon has tried to fight back against their "instincts". Each demon has a different amount of strength, but at the top, entirely uncontested, there lays the man named Muzan Kibutsuji. Muzan continues to linger in this world and grows his forces of demons through the night and humans have little to no power to stop him. However, in the past, as Muzan ran rampant, man created a way to fight these monstrosities."
"What man created was a breathing technique that allows man to exert the strength and speed of demons. Those who inherited or created breathing techniques all came together and formed a corps called the Demon Slayer Corps. The Demon Slayer Corps risk their lives to fight against the demons and use the power granted to them for the good of man. The original slayers didn't have a way to kill the demons efficiently, but with the combination of both the original slayer and a master blacksmith, we created Nichirin Blades."
"These blades are formed from metals that come from the tallest peaks known to man as demons' inherent weakness is the sun. So, by using the power of the sun in Nichirin Blades, Demon Slayers were able to fight and push back the demons. Now, as I have deemed your potential high enough to become a Demon Slayer, I shall be teaching you my breathing technique."
"A breathing technique in general focuses on the increase of the user's lung capacity and amount of oxygen in the blood. However, I believe that you already know this since you've been using a quasi-breathing technique for a while now. I will be forming that quasi-form into something much more efficient and be teaching you two ways to use the breathing form."
"These two forms are: Total Concentration Breathing and Total Concentration: Constant. Total Concentration Breathing is where the user inhales the most amount of oxygen with a specific breath pattern to raise their physical and mental prowess to the utmost limit. It is used for a brief temporary boost of combat capabilities. Total Concentration: Constant on the other hand is a breathing state that can be constantly maintained to always have an increase in strength, speed, and stamina. It requires tremendous effort, though it is noted to be quite elementary in skill. Total Concentration: Constant can best be improved with a specialized gourd, but since I don't have any on me, we'll be mainly focusing on just Total Concentration Breathing."
"The techniques that I shall be teaching you should never be used for evil. If you ever use what I teach you to kill fellow humans, then I'll come and deal with you myself. I hope you are prepared my new disciple; this will be quite different from your normal routine."
With the end of his information and threatening speech, I start preparation in my mind to survive the whole ordeal. For the rest of the day, I continued my routine as normal, but when tomorrow arrived, Urokodaki forced me to run down the mountain while still holding my practice sword.
This both made my running slower and my reaction time less in time, making me once again get injured. Luckily, Urokodaki had lowered the traps back down to non-lethal since he probably knew this would happen.
Once down the mountain, I take a short reprieve before trying to start my sword swinging. However, Urokodaki takes my practice sword and hands me a real sword.
"It's better to practice with something more realistic, allowing for you to know its weight and its dangers." Urokodaki explains.
Suddenly however, the air around Urokodaki grows menacingly as he looms over me.
"Swords break easily. Though it is strong vertically, it's weak horizontally so you need to apply the force straight along the blade. The blade's direction and the direction in which you apply the force must be the same. If you ever damage the blade, in other words, break it, I'll snap your bones, as well."
Giving him a tiny salute to state that I understand, I start my practice with the sword. It's around the same weight as the normal practice sword, so I can consequently keep up my path to one thousand swings. I had prepared to rest after finishing my swinging, but Urokodaki forced me to follow him through the forest.
Once at a suitable location, Urokodaki turns towards me and starts to teach a lesson on how I should always be able to fix my position if I am to ever be thrown around by an opponent. I completely fail on the very first day, but it serves as a very good lesson for the future me.
The next day, after completing my mountain run, sword swings, and fall catching, Urokodaki teaches me the correct breathing form to use his water breathing.
"My breathing form is known as Water Breathing and since you are now my disciple, I will be teaching you all ten of the Water Breathing Forms. But let's change you quasi-breathing form into an actually usable one."
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Water Breathing Forms:
1st form – Water Surface Slash – Generates enough momentum to create a powerful single concentrated slash.
2nd form – Water Wheel – Leaps and vertically spins forward while releasing a flowing attack in a circular motion.
3rd form – Flowing Dance – User bends and swings their blade in a winding motion along with their body, creating a sort of dance.
4th form – Striking Tide – Multiple Consecutive slashes while twisting their body and sword in a flowing fashion to deliver multiple blows.
5th form – Blessed Rain After the Drought – Change's grip on sword and decapitates the opponent, giving them little to no pain. "Sword Strike of Kindness"
6th form – Whirlpool – fiercely twisting the upper and lower body, creating a whirlpool of air that cuts anything caught in it. Its effects increase underwater.
7th form – Piercing Rain Drop – Preforms a fast and accurate stab, capable of reducing the impact of a moving target.
8th form – Waterfall basin – Cut the target vertically in a flowing motion.
9th form – Splashing Water Flow – Change footwork in a way that minimizes the landing time and surface needed for landing, allowing the user to move without limits.
10th form – Constant Flux – A continuous flowing attack which takes the form of a water dragon that increases in strength and power for each rotation.
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Urokodaki then squats down in front of me and says, "First, Relax your upper body."
I relax it.
"While bracing your lower half."
I brace.
"Breathe."
I breath in and almost immediately I am jabbed in the gut, making me keel over.
"Wrong."
We continue the breathing exercise for the rest of the day until I pass out on my tatami mat. The next day, after completing my mountain run, sword swings, fall catching, and breathing exercises, Urokodaki takes me on a small journey through the forest until we arrive at a cliff above a waterfall.
As it only stands to be mid-January, the water in mainly frozen over. Looking over the edge, I look at Urokodaki with a horror-stricken face. But he only stares quietly at me before suddenly appearing behind me and kicking me off the ledge.
As I seemingly float in the air, waiting for me to fall to my doom, Urokodaki says, "Become one with the water."
Plummeting down, I fall into the unfrozen patch of water and start to flail my arms about as I feel the cold start to fester in my body. Before being consumed by my watery grave, I am luckily dragged out of the water by the helping hand of Urokodaki.
Removing my near frozen clothes from my body, Urokodaki instantly covers me with a fur pelt that he got from god knows where.
"Once your warm, I want you to sit under the waterfall."
Hearing this from Urokodaki, I can feel my soul leave my body as I sit there for the next thirty minutes until I'm warm. I want to leave, but under the pressure of Urokodaki's stare, I sit under the waterfall. Like it is to be expected from a five-year old, I am immediately crushed by the overwhelming pressure presented by flowing water.
Being once again saved by drowning by Urokodaki, I warm myself up again and then force myself to sit under the waterfall, being crushed consistently.
The next day, after doing my mountain run, sword swings, fall catching, breathing exercises, and the waterfall exercise, Urokodaki makes me start doing the basic movement of all ten forms without using the breathing art. This exercise is self-explanatory since all I'm doing is copying the movements that Urokodaki shows to me.
With the final exercise added to my arsenal, I continue training for the next three weeks. In that time, I had moved back to slightly lethal traps while running down the mountain and I could finally withstand the pressure of the waterfall.
My understanding of the way of the sword had also increased as I could commit the sword exercises with utmost precision, of course without the breathing art.
Continuing this training for the next four weeks, I was able to increase all my senses when Urokodaki had placed completely lethal traps along the mountain run. With the ability to see, hear, smell, and touch better, I avoided all the traps.
Also, I am now able to use my breathing technique and combine it with the breathing forms. These four weeks were more self-improvement than anything else as Urokodaki has made me come from the brink of death to the peak of what my current body could handle.
Seeing as to how talented I was and how much he liked my presence, Urokodaki asked if I would be okay to be adopted by him. I of course don't know Urokodaki's actual reasoning, so if you want to know, then you should ask him. Jumping on the chance to be adopted by Urokodaki, I am beaming with happiness. So now, my name is now Shiro Urokodaki.